Incendiary Image of the Day: Cheaper Than Dirt! Chutzpah Edition

A certain member of TTAG’s writing stable argued that Cheaper than Dirt should be allowed back into gun guy’s good graces. The company has, after all, resumed the sales of modern sporting rifles, written a big check to the Second Amendment Foundation and joined the industry boycott of New York law enforcement agencies. What they’ve never done: issued a public apology for their post-Newtown withdrawal of AR-15-style rifles from their site and their attempts to disguise the decision as an inventory issue. (What they have done: raise their prices significantly to exploit the sellers’ market.) Until and unless they fess-up, as far as I’m concerned, Cheaper Than Dirt! can pound sand. The ad above? More grist for their new enemies’ mill.

Weeks ago I responded to CTDs SPAM telling them to remove me from their mailing list. Today, I finally called them on the phone and told them to stop SPAMMING me. I suspect CTD is one of those firms that once they get your email they keep ignoring your instructions to stop SPAMMING. The best way to keep it from occurring is to never buy anything from CTD.

CTD is still selling most of their items at inflated prices, when I get their flier it goes straight into the recycling bin. But then again so is mom and pop places like thecountryshed, who actually has the same AK 40 round mags as CTD only at 12 dollars more.
You can basically put almost every shop like CTD on this boycott list, most of them failed the test to.

Like a man said, I just let them waste their money printing those fliers, what got NO prices. I get two a month. I look through them and if I see something I like I “g” it and get it cheaper than Cheaper Than Dirt, from someone ELSE. So I’ll be spending my tax refund elsewhere, FU very much. Personally, me thinks they should change their name to Dumber than Rocks, cause that’s what you gotta be to buy from them. Of course if they keep writing those fat checks to The SAF I might change my mind. Really, Scouts honor! (Finger crossing may have occurred during that last sentence)

If someone’s willing to pay $100 for a PMAG, whatever. It’s capitalism. Deal with it.

They showed some political cowardice at first but I think they’re making up for it. That said? Never bought there, never will after figuring out they slam you in the shipping charges. MidwayUSA and Sportsman’s Guide have my business.

Yeah as a resident of kali, I resent the cop loophole. the awb here wouldn’t exist if not for the exemption clause for leo.
“for me but not thee”. No exemptions should exist for anyone. mags, ebr’s, handgun roster, leo are exempt from them all. Accur81, not only were you legally able to aquire a standard pmag but you are actually able to USE your pmag in your personally owned AR’s, NOT just in your duties as a peace officer..
you may be a decent guy but I despise EVERY THING that LEO in this state stand for…

To be fair to A81, I also picked up some 30-round PMAGs not too long ago. I’m a non-LEO CA resident.

How? I had them shipped to me as “rebuild kits”, i.e. with the floorplate popped off so that they were not fully assembled functional mags. Under current CA law I could then use them to rebuild an existing (legal) full-cap mag, “permanently modify” them to 10-round capacity, or keep them disassembled except when I take them on out-of-state AZ/NV/etc. shooting expeditions.

All 100% legal. Also the target of CA AB48 (Skinner) which is one of the biggest shytpiles of a bill I’ve ever read:

Oi. Yes, i got it in CA. Notwithstanding the fact that I could just buy a mag in NV, AZ, WI, etc, make one, etc.
I support freedom and standard cap mags for all responsible citizens. I use real mags in my guns whenever I can.

Didn’t mean to piss anyone off. As Alpha has said, there are certainly ways to get real mags.

I know all about rebuild kits and ab48 is particularly heinous.however no matter how many 30 rounders I had, I would have no way of legally using them in my OLL (off-list lower). All cops would fight with us if there were NO exemptions…

I received that email from them today and couldn’t help but laugh. I wonder if the powers that be at CTD know these emails or going out or if there is some misguided marketing manager sending them that just doesn’t get it?

Either way they must really think the gun community are idiots.

I live a stones throw away from their Fort Worth store and have spent a lot of money with them over the years but their recent actions have caused me to take my business elsewhere.

I don’t really care that they (temporarily) stopped selling EBRs in the wake of Newtown. CTD only started selling firearms a couple of years ago and honestly, there are other sources out there for guns that have better prices.

My question, have they ever addressed the reports that they cancelled some back ordered products (notably ammo) as “unavailable” and then re-listed the same product at double the price? I’ve heard they did but I don’t know if anyone’s ever contacted them to ask whether that was a practice they engaged in.

If they did, then they are dead to me (and I’ve been a CTD customore for over a decade.) Screwing over the very people who have made you wealthy, just because you can, is lower than low.

I blacklisted a supplier of magazine rebuild kits for just this reason — they cancelled my order placed minutes before they raised prices on their website.

That’s a boycott that actually means something, IMHO, because there aren’t many suppliers of new magazine rebuild kits (aka disassembled magazines) which have any kind of products available. It’s not like I can just click over to the next entry on a plentiful list of rebuild-kit sellers who actually have inventory available.

I placed some high-cap pistol magazine orders with Midway right after Christmas with some cash from Santa. It took them nearly two months to ship them, but they didn’t cancel my order so that they could sell the mags at a higher price. Kudos to Midway USA!

#1 son recently ordered a muzzle brake (without consulting his all knowing father) from CTD, which arrived today (sort of). It was shipped in an unpadded thin gray plastic mailer that arrived chewed open at one corner, no doubt due to being caught in the feed rollers of a mail processing machine. We got the plastic envelope, what was left of the invoice, and a catalog. NO MUZZLE BRAKE. I placed a call to CTD 3 hours ago and as of yet no response.

No, I won’t file a claim with the Post Office, are you kidding me? YOU are the idiots who sent a 1″ steel tube in a package designed for a book. I’ll give them until tomorrow to contact me with a satisfactory resolution to this problem. Should satisfaction NOT be forthcoming, I will proceed to tell my story on blogs far and wide, small and large and in between.

To be fair I’ve never had any issues with CTD’s return/refund policy. The one time I got an inexpensive holster with a defective snap they simply mailed me a new holster and told me to keep the defective one as well (I guess it wasn’t worth it for them to return or restock a $20 holster.)

The problem with Lower-than-Dirt is that they already tainted their own reputation, and that leaves a bad after-taste in many gun owners. I’ve personally have not bought anything from them in the past, and most likely never will–unless they were the last resort (I doubt that). I would rather buy from a local gun shop and support my local economy than to buy from them.

It will take a whole lot more than just donating to a 2A cause for them to get back in the consumer’s good graces.

CTD’s true cowardly colors were revealed last year, and continue as they exploit the current hyper-demand market conditions. I don’t necessarily blame them for raising prices; if demand exceeds supply the market either has to raise prices, ration product, or a combination of both.

However, their firearm and ammo prices are simply a rip off. My local, family-owned gun stores have had to raise their prices in accordance with demand, but not nearly to the degree as CTD, and I would assume that CTD has considerably more buying power and clout than my small, local gun shops. I won’t be purchasing anything from them in the near future, perhaps never.